The Panthers went from seven healthy d-men to five within a 3-hour span Thursday as Jason Garrison couldn’t make it out of warmups and Keaton Ellerby couldn’t get out of the second period of his first NHL playoff game.
Garrison didn’t skate this morning but coach Kevin Dineen, who hates giving away his lineup changes until the last second, said that Garrison would attempt to skate in pregame warmups before he’s ruled in or out. Ellerby is definitely out. If I was a betting man – and I’m not – I’d say Tyson Strachan will take Garrison’s spot tonight. He was very dependable during his 15-game stint with the Panthers this season (3 points, plus-1).
“Those are two guys that are tough to lose, they’re big parts of our team and defensive corps,” rookie defenseman Erik Gudbranson said. “They’re a little bit beaten down but they’re tough guys and will be back in the lineup soon. We’re definitely extremely confident with Tyson in the linuep. He played really well when he was up for awhile, and we have no doubts in our mind that we’re going to have the best team on the ice tonight.”

Of course, the Panthers will sorely miss Garrison’s bomb from the point during the power play. They were 0-for-6 Thursday (sorry about not noticing the 21-second power-play at the end of the game) after going 6-of-10 in the first three games. The Devils also notched two power-play goals after being 2-of-11, so they’re feeling quite confident heading into Game 5 tonight since they reversed the special teams situation.
Tomas Fleischmann continued his postseason trend of not participating in morning skate to keep fresh for the game. Although the Panthers aren’t saying, it probably has something to do with his chronic blood clot issues. This way he doesn’t have to take more than one injection a day.
It was cool to see the Panthers end skate by forming a circle at mid-ice and watching Ed Jovanovski go in the middle and speak to them. All I could get out of the players and Jovo – who has unofficially taken over the captain duties in the postseason – was that he told them to, “enjoy the moment,” and play for the entire 60 minutes with no let-up.
As for the goalie situation, Dineen continues his coy stance of not announcing the starter but it’s obvious that he will go back to Jose Theodore, who played well in the first two games before the Devils bombarded him and the entire defense with three goals in the first seven minutes of Game 4. I asked Zach Parise if the Devils prefer to shoot against Scott Clemmensen because they know his tendencies, and he ducked it, complimenting both goalies and saying the only difference is they carry their sticks in opposite hands.
The Panthers will open the doors of the BankAtlantic Center at 4:30 p.m. due to the anticipation of inclement weather. They continue to warn against throwing the toy rats on the ice after goals as the NHL has warned them that they could be whistled for a delay-the-game penalty.
Predictions?

That’s all the Panthers need is a delay of game penalty for rats on the ice. UGH! Come on people, wait until the game is over.

Harvey you are spot on that Garrison will be missed. The G-Bomb is very efficient and has truly helped the PP. I guess we could name Weaver’s shot the wee-bomb. Just doesn’t feel quite the same.

Tyson played well when he was up. I actually liked him better than Ellerby and I promise he will follow the defensive strategy of tonight’s game plan or the AHL will be his final resting ground. This is a big chance for him.

Theo is the man and we should expect a sweet bounce-back game from him.

Key for the Panthers tonight will be patience. I expect a tight, low scoring game.

One thing being left out regarding Garrison is that before we all got excited about his booming slapper, is that he was widely regarded as one of the best (if not the best) shut down defensemen on the team. In my view, while the PP certainly misses his slap shot and the way some opponent PK’s tend to overplay defending against it (which creates space elsewhere), his defensive skills are missed even more. Strachan did a good job when he was called up and hopefully he will settle into the moment and not be overwhelmed by playing in a playoff game of this magnitude.

Good points WAM. Garrison has always been a plus side player on a team that is skewed because of lack of scoring. He was effectively reduced to an average scoring threat the last half of the season as other teams focused on shutting him down. But you’re right it did create space for others. Samuelsson does a great job on the point as his wrist shot is lethal and accurate enough to create scoring chances. Scoring on MB is mostly going to happen with traffic and rebounds. Hopefully the guys are up to taking a beating in front of the net, as perfect shots like Bergenheim’s goal are few and far between.

Hopefully the team has figured out they have to match the Devil’s intensity from the start, otherwise JT will need do his best superhero impersonation to keep the guys in the game.

HARVEY FIALKOV, a tennis-playing sportswriter who grew up in Long Island following the dynastic Islanders, is the new Panthers beat writer for the Sun Sentinel and looking forward to writing about the best professional sports team in Broward County.